Tempering Steel
by Anru
Summary: AU! Lois thought she was going to have a quiet time while her husband went to space to prove his innocence. Then she met his clone. Mama! Lois
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Due to unforeseen complications, KR is delayed. Lois thought she was going to have a quiet time while her husband went to space to prove his innocence. Then she met his clone. Mama! Lois

* * *

Tempering Steel

Chapter One: Soap Operas and Reality

* * *

Lois Lane's clearest memory of her mother was her cranking up the television to watch a soap opera. She remembered many sick days, cuddling up to Ellen Lane with her sister Lucy while they watched the overly dramatic lives of bored, pretty rich people who didn't know how to communicate, constantly got amnesia and couldn't keep it in her pants.

Unlike her sister, Lois always despised those soap operas. She had always thought they were unbelievable, silly, and everything about them simply couldn't happen in real life.

That was until she met a man who could fly.

Lois, who had always thought soap operas were ridiculous, had gone through an six year dance as she found herself waffling between two wonderful men, a brave hero that spent his days benchpressing planets and saving kittens and a kind, gentle reporter who couldn't hurt a fly. Before learning they were one and the same. She had dealt with billionaire ex-boyfriends trying to kill him, alien queens trying to steal her fiancé away, a metal man who had become obsessed with her and crashed her wedding, and a father who unknowingly wanted to get his son in law off of earth.

Even now, here she was alone in her office, past one instead of going home, going over a Pro-League article that she had long finished to counteract the poison of Godfrey's propaganda, rather than discussing her anniversary plans with her husband in bed. Because her husband wasn't with her, he wasn't in town, he wasn't even on earth. Instead he was trying to prove his innocence for a crime he didn't commit on a world a galaxy away.

Her mother must be laughing at her in Heaven right now.

As Lois wondered what piece of junk she could manage to stomach at this time for dinner, her cell phone went off. Recognizing the number as one for the justice league, she rapidly went through every horrible scenario she could think have occurred before she answered, "hello."

"Lois," Dinah said and even with only one word, Lois could tell the Black Canary was exhausted. "Good, you're up? Sorry, but I'm going to need you to head to the Hall of Justice as soon as possible."

"What happened? Is it Clark? Is he back?"

"No. I'll explain when you get there."

* * *

By the time she managed to get to the Hall, it was nearly three. It was an odd feeling crossing the doors, while Clark had given her authorization years ago to move freely though any League. She had only been at the building as a member of the press.

The inside was filled with dozens of teens of all ages who observed her with interest. It was plain to see the majority were runaways or homeless youths from their clothing. Lois wondered if the league had become a temporary shelter and she hadn't gotten the memo.

Among the kids, a blonde girl in a purple puffy coat that was sitting in one of the available chairs wrinkled her nose at her. "I know you. "

"You do?" Lois asked, wracking her brain to put a face to the girl.

"You're Superman's girlfriend," she said.

"Always happy to meet a fan," she said wryly. "How you doing?"

"Can't complain," the girl said in a matching town, while crossing her arms. "Got taken of the street to be kidnapped by aliens, ran for my life."

"You get used to it," Lois replied blithely. "Next time it happens make sure to bring an extra pair of shoes." The girl let out an offended huff as Black Canary came to greet her.

"When can I go home?" the blonde girl demanded of the superheroine. "I deserve to know!" The other teenagers made sounds of agreement.

"Soon," Dinah said, before turning her attention back to Lois. She grabbed her hand and pulled the reporter through the crowd.

"You said that hours ago!"

* * *

Dinah dragged Lois straight into her office, past a smaller group of teenagers that included a black boy, a Asian girl, a native American boy, a Latino boy, a boy in blue armor, a Atlantean, boy who looked like the flash and the only one she did recognize, Beast Boy who waved happily to her. Once they stepped inside her office, Lois noticed the duo wasn't alone. Sitting in one of the two chairs in front of Dinah's desk was a teenage boy already waiting.

The boy was around thirteen or fourteen Lois guessed, he looked about the same age and height as Beast Boy and the kids outside. He was wearing a white costume that glowed with a light so bright, she couldn't look directly at it. He had short black hair, and his eyes were so blue that her heart had almost stopped.

He was undeniably her husband in miniature form.

He turned and while she narrowed her eyes to avoid the glare of the clothing that didn't have the decency to have a dimmer switch, she could manage to make out her husband's symbol on his shirt.

"Who is this?" he asked in a higher version of Clark's voice. Lois wondered if he had super hearing because her heart definitely skipped a beat.

"This is Lois Lane. She's…" Dinah struggled for a second; the night was noticeably getting to her. "She's Superman's friend. Lois, meet Superboy. He's-"

"Superman's clone," he said, meeting her gaze in defiance, daring her to say something.

"The Team found him hidden on The Reach ship," Dinah added. "They were experimenting on him along with the other children, so they took him along." Lois didn't know who the Reach were, but anybody who experimented on children had to be worse than the devil.

Lois had long known The Light was capable of cloning individuals. The fiasco with Red Arrow had forced an examination of nearly anyone even remotely involved with the league to get examined, so they wouldn't be compromised in such a way again. Clark as a safety procedure had put a microscopic tracker under her skin so that she couldn't be swapped. An alert would be sent straight to the fortress if anyone tampered with it.

But she had thought that if her husband had been cloned, she would end up dealing with a second Clark going through an identity crisis, the level of Red Arrow, or a man who lived a life that wasn't his and at worst try to end the life of the original to affirm his place in the world. She had thought that if her husband was cloned that it would be a nasty, sad affair for all involved.

But all she could feel right now was unbridled joy.

She had known a long time ago that when she had chosen to stand by her husband who she loved with every fiber of her soul, she would never be a mother. Kryptonian and human DNA was incompatible and nothing they could do would change that fact. She never regretted her decision. Every day with Clark was a blessing and made her happier than she could ever dream of being. But she did wonder…

Would their hypothetical child have had her violet eyes or Clark's unearthly blue? Would it be a girl or a boy? What would they have named them? Would they have given them a Kryptonian one as well? She had spent many nights keeping herself up with all of these questions of how they would be.

But none of those questions seemed to matter.

The impossible child that she had always thought of was standing right in front of her.

Because it was plain to her that this Superboy wasn't his clone. At least not like how she pictured it. He wasn't like Roy who had replaced the other. From the sheer lack of recognition of her identity it was apparent to see that see didn't have Clark's memories or upbringing.

He was young, clean, and new. And all of a sudden she couldn't see him as Superman's clone. No. This Superboy was undeniably Superman's son. _Clark's_ son.

And that made him hers too.

After spending several seconds trying to find her voice while the teenager refused to break eye contact, she managed to choke out with her voice much higher than she wanted it to be, "It's nice to meet you."

Lois Lane-Kent had become used to the fact that her life was a soap opera. Every day she since she had crossed paths with Clark made everyday an adventure. A series of ridiculous events that many would call unbelievable, filled with unexpected twists and turns that continued to make her zag when she expected to zig.

But as far as they go this was a nice one.

* * *

End Chapter

 **If you want more Mama Lois. Try my other story. _The World Is Still Beautiful_**


	2. Settling

Tempering Steel

Chapter Two: Settling

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After a long night of examinations, Dinah had declared that the children retrieved from the Reach Ship would be moved to STAR Labs to make sure the alien abductors had not done any lasting damage to their victims. Their last experiment on a boy named Neutron had nearly ended the life of the Flash, so there were always chances of their being traps hidden within the bodies of the children that prevented them from being set free. Lois who was not going to leave her husband's son alone for a single moment had instantly cashed a fortnight's worth of vacation days to an irate Perry White, furious that he had lost two of his best reporters at once.

Even if the boy in question did not particularly care that she was there.

"Why are you holding my hand?" he had asked her as they walked into the STAR Labs facility. The few other children that they had come with sent her strange looks as well.

The dark haired woman looked down and saw she had instinctively grabbed it as they crossed the lab's large doors out of concern for the boy; the sterile white walls had always given her the creeps. Lois saw Superboy's impatient face and made an excuse. "I'm not a fan of labs and hospitals. I usually grab Superman's hand whenever I do. Makes me feel safe…I can let go if you want?"

The mention of her husband seemed to mollify the teen, and he mumbled under his breath, "Y-You don't have to do that."

She had spent the past few hours taking him in, his every moment and action, amazed at the differences between Superboy and Clark. A strange mirror of what her husband might have become without the kind hand of The Kents guiding him in the world. Superboy was a rather temperamental boy from what she had gathered, though how much was from the insanity of the situation wasn`t quite clear. As far as she was concerned anyone would be crabby in his situation. But there were little moments like this, where she saw echoes of her husband's gentleness hidden in him.

"Thank you," she said lightly. Taking the olive branch he had offered, she grabbed his hand tighter in response. The boy turned bright red at the action and looked away from her, finding the walls of STAR Lab to suddenly be the most interesting thing in the world while he slowly levitated higher in the air.

Yeah, he was definitely Clark's son alright.

* * *

The next morning, the children including Superboy were sent through a myriad of assorted tests. Lois, well aware from the experience she had received from her sister Lucy, growing up, had decided to reward the enduring children by picking up the unhealthiest, most fattening junk food, money could buy for their lunch.

And more importantly it was s a way for Superboy to break the ice with the children that she had not seen spoken to once since she met him.

"You're an angel," said Virgil Hawkins as he ate the piping hot fries she had laid out on a table. He was a black boy that had been abducted from his loving home from Dakota City while out with his sister Sharon. "I can't believe how good this tastes right now."

"Anything is good, when you haven't eaten in months," Tye Longshadow added as he grabbed a slice of pizza. From what she had gathered from Dinah, he had run away from a abusive home when he had been taken.

Eduardo Dorado, the son of the head scientist here at Star nodded in agreement. Lois wasn't quite sure how he had managed to be abducted like the other two or why his father hadn't told the League he was missing. But she was sure she didn't have a large part of the picture.

The last member of their foursome was a Japanese girl named Asami Koizumi with heterochromia. That was all that they had managed to get out of her, without any interpreters here at STAR. The girl coughed loudly but refused to pick up any of the milkshakes that had mere inches away from her.

"You don't want a shake?" Lois asked, offering the girl a drink. "I got every flavor."

The girl shook her head passionately, speaking in Japanese far too fast for Lois to even pick out a single word.

"She's said she's severely lactose intolerant," Superboy told her dully, having half devoured the plate of hot wings that she left on the table.

"Oh," said Lois, reaching into her bag and grabbing the soda she had bought for herself. She handed to the girl who chugged it down in thanks.

"You know Japanese?" Ed asked.

"I know every language," Superboy said haughtily.

The other four children rolled their eyes simultaneously in response and Lois had to stop herself from doing the same. They had gotten over whatever awe they had of the teenage Kryptonian within the past few hours.

Superboy was at the end of the day not a very humble boy it seemed.

Lois frowned and lightly bonked the younger Kryptonian on the head, more for the ceremony than for any physical response he would have from the gesture. It was one of the big problems from dealing with invulnerable skin.

"Be nice," she chastised. "Superboy, since you know the language. Can you ask Asami about her parents? How she managed to get abducted?"

Superboy sighed before turning his attention to the girl and started to speak Japanese. Asami mumbled a few syllables before Superboy switched back to English. "She doesn't want to say,"

Wonderful.

"Hey, so you're like Superman's girlfriend, right?" Tye asked. Superboy had instantly straightened up at the mention of his father.

"I'll have you know I'm happily married," Lois corrected. Married to Superman, but they did not need to know that.

"Yeah, whatever," Tye said. Not quite believing her. It was a response she was quite used to getting from outsiders. "What is he like?"

Superboy inched closer towards her to listen to her response, Lois found particularly endearing and Lois decided to regale the children in front of her of tales with his father.

"He's the nicest guy you'll ever meet. He's a lot sillier than he looks on TV. One time he met Metallo and…"

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End Chapter


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